Finding hope through helping others

In a world seemingly dominated by terrorism, violence, famine and a nasty national political discourse, some people may feel that hope has evaporated.

But, according to some community leaders, even performing small acts of kindness can go a long way in restoring optimism.

“A clear thing to do is to volunteer your time,” said Karley Ausiello, senior vice president of the United Way of Massachusetts Bay and the Merrimack Valley. “If you’re feeling hopeless, you don’t even need to volunteer to do something related to what makes you feel discouraged. Having a positive connection to volunteering can certainly help in these instances.”

Many of the local organizations the United Way works with have recently reported increased interest in volunteering, Ausiello said.

“You don’t have to do something to address global warming. You can just come in for a day and volunteer to help people in the community,” she said. “That group connection was something we heard a lot of people were looking for. It’s something anybody can do, it’s really easy and they’ll be rewarded by doing it.”

Watertown resident Cathy O’Grady knows first-hand that helping others can make the world seem a little brighter. After losing her mother to breast cancer, O’Grady decided to honor her memory by performing random acts of kindness.

She began going to dollar stores and buying toys, which she would drop off at area parks with notes inviting children to play with them. Then she and her friends began buying warm blankets, stuffing them with McDonald’s gift cards, and leaving them around Boston with notes inviting homeless people to take them.

“We wrapped them in plastic with a note saying, ‘If you’re cold, take one and know that you’re loved,’” she said.

O’Grady went on to organize her random acts of kindness into a nonprofit organization called Sofia’s Angels, in honor of her late mother.

Sofia’s Angels recently ran a successful campaign to raise $50,000 to buy a van accessible for people with disabilities for a family in Southbridge.

“When you give to somebody else, that’s when you find hope, and that’s when you make a positive change,” she said.

At Eliot United Church of Christ in Newton, the Rev. Susan Brecht says one of her core missions is to promote social justice and inclusiveness. The church has displayed rainbow flags and signs declaring support for refugees, Muslims, people of color and other groups.

“We are all God’s children,” the pastor said. “We wanted to show the community we support all those groups, some of whom were under attack.”

In addition to holding events to support the poor and homeless, Eliot Church has celebrated interfaith services with Jewish and Muslim organizations. Some families in the congregation have hosted local Muslim families for dinner in a show of unity.

“I think it’s important to provide a time for people to sit and commiserate, but also to continue to look for the good,” Brecht said. “There still is lots of good in this country. I’m encouraged by all the people who are rallying together.”

Being an active member of a community, she added, is also an important source of hope.

“If people are upset, I would hope more of them would find progressive churches,” she said. “You can feel all alone out there if you don’t have a community to connect to. We are very much living in a society that has isolated a lot.”

The Rev. Marta Morris Flanagan, pastor of First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church in Arlington, said it is important to put everything in context.

“In our times, trying and discouraging as they are, I am helped by remembering the long arc of history,” she said. “The world is less violent than at any other time in history. There is greater understanding than ever before among people who are different from one another. I am helped by remembering how change for the better happens faster and faster. The accomplishments of legal civil rights for African-Americans mostly occurred within decades, the accomplishments of legal civil rights for gays and lesbians even more quickly.”

Remembering and recognizing the good in the world, she said, can provide hope for the future.

“Forgetting the ways progress has occurred, love has been made manifest, is a kind of faithlessness,” she said. “In recounting the good that has unfolded through time, our hope takes root.”